Day 4,318—Valentine’s Day Marathon—

 

       I had planned to start running by 6 this morning, but when my alarm went off, and I tried to get out of bed, my body refused to move. When I started running, I felt rushed, and all the rain made the experience feel timeless. I decided I wanted to end my run through Webster and that I would start by doing most of the trail by the river and all of Grant’s Trail. I did a few things differently to add a little onto my route, but by the time I was running on Grant’s Trail, I did the math and realized I would complete the trail at about 19 miles. I decided to take the long way around once in Kirkwood to go back towards Lockwood, all the way to the university, and then back home. There was almost no one running on any of the trails: I didn’t see one bike rider. I saw a bunch of people heading quickly to the Amtrak system at the start of this run. I imagined they were off to work and were about to miss their ride.

       I started routinely seeing signs that said that the trail was closed up ahead, which made me worried, but I couldn’t remember if I had run the section that was closed before, and it wasn’t that big of a deal, but this time, there were signs for a detour, so I figured, why not, and started following the signs. I was surprised that the detour didn’t change the distances that much, but it did add a lot of elevation. I didn’t know how to go around the park, but I had run in the park that it takes the detour through several times.

       I started feeling more pain around 18 miles, but it wasn’t anything substantial. I was happy I could control my pace for most of the run. I averaged a little faster than last weekend, which means the pressure is off for tomorrow. I just need to get at least a 20-mile run in, but maybe I will feel like doing more; we will see. It always feels good to run a marathon, but part of me wanted to run a 50K. I can try to do that tomorrow, but I didn’t make it easy on myself with today’s run.

       I saw some deer at the start of my run and took some pictures. Other than that, I never felt up to stopping and getting my camera out. The other factor was the nonstop rain. I am thankful it wasn’t heavier, but it was constant, and it made stopping to do the most basic thing stressful. I didn’t listen to anything for over an hour, and the more I put off starting a book or a song, the easier it got to be content with the silence. I tried to take a picture of this neon sign that said “Happy Valentine’s Day,” but the picture kept on blurring, so you couldn’t read the text.